A Creative’s Journey : Week 4 : Outsourcing

Between no school for a teacher in-service day, a sick child, the weekend, and a snow day I didn’t get ANYTHING done this week.  It’s so frustrating.  I bet I spent 2-3 hours total this week on my business.  It’s amazing how as an entrepreneur, I can feel totally caught up and super proactive one minute, then totally behind and floundering the next.  When I stop working, the business stops, too.

That’s why I love outsourcing and scheduling as much as I can so it doesn’t ALL stop.  So today I wanted to share my top 4 vendors I use every week:

1.  Richard Photo Lab – Film development and proofing.  I shoot a session.  I mail the film to the lab.  I get on with the rest of my work.  I get an email that my photos are ready and boom, I download them, cull, then deliver to my client.  It has freed up so much of my time it is WELL worth the price of shooting film (plus, hello beautiful skin tones!).

2.  Later.com – Instagram scheduling.  I freaking love this site!  I finish up a session, export my favorite images, and import them into Later.  I can schedule out an entire week (or even the entire month) in one sitting.  I can add captions and hashtags right from my computer.  I can preview what my grid will look like and move things around some more without losing any information.  And another best part: I don’t have to always email or Dropbox my images to get them on my phone to add to Instagram.  I love that!

3.  Wordpress blog – scheduling blog posts.  Yep, you read that right.  I still use WordPress and am super happy with it!  I can bang out 3 blog posts in a morning, use the bulk image uploader, cut and paste my alt tag info, keyword, and add links, then schedule them out for the week.  It’s so convenient and pretty easy once you have a process down that you like.

4.  Bookkeeper – no more time spent double-checking transaction details, coding, and reconciling.  I’ve saved at least 8 hours every quarter around tax time now that I have a bookkeeper.  That’s almost two days worth of time for me!

Now for this weeks’ scoreboard:

1. How was I brave this week:  I had to speak publicly to a group of 40 prospective incoming parents at our school tours, and I do not like public speaking.  My heart starts racing and my palms get sweaty.  But I pushed into the fear and did it anyway.  Baby steps.  If I’m ever going to get over it, I have to lean into it.
2. How was I kind this week: I did not strangle one of my kids.  #kidding but seriously, having a child home with me for the past eight days took its toll.
3. How did I fail this week:  By hardly getting any work done.  My head is swimming.

How did you do this week?  What did you cross off your list or what challenges did you face?  I’d love to hear!

XX,

Kim

Kim Hildebrand

Photographer & Online Educator since 2007

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